I would really love some honest Critique on my Black and White photo's. I want to really embrace form and light, get to the roots of good photography. Any suggestions or encouragement would be appreciated! Thank you.
Hi Marcie. I've been doing quite a bit of b&w this year myself. Here are some recommendations as you get rolling:
1. Always shoot in color and do the conversion yourself afterwards. If you let the camera do the conversion, you effectively throw away over 900,000 tones that you could otherwise use.
2. You want to show pure white and pure black in each photo. This gives the proper frame of reference to the viewer.
3. Not all photos work well in black and white! If shooting for that medium, you want to think in terms of contrast. Will your subject stand out against the background when both are shades of grey? Do I have sufficient extremes of black and white from which to work?
4. When exposing for black and white, try to shoot for the right side of the histogram without blowing out the whites. You can adjust the contrast afterwards, provided you have the maximum amount of data in the image from which to work.
5. Use a levels adjustment to manipulate the midtones and the end-points of your histogram. The levels adjustment does not change the shape of the histogram itself. A brightness/contrast adjustment also comes in handy, but be aware of what that adjustment does. Brightness will shift the entire histogram either right (light) or left (dark). Contrast will heighten or shorten the "Y-Axis" part of the histogram. Play around with the 3 different controls and see the effect.
I'm not sure what software you use to post-process your photos. If it's Photoshop Elements, then you can use a black and white gradient map in color blend mode as a good starting point for the conversion. There are also a few plug-ins (Topaz B&W FX is the one I use) that give you a lot of control.
Anyway, that's a starting point for you! Enjoy! I love B&W photography, but be warned: it's highly addictive!
Wow! That is a lot to take in. I am currently just switching my digital camera to Black and White mode and trying to find inspiration around me. Then slap the pictures onto my computer and upload them here. That is really all the fiddiling I do with it.
welcome to 365 Marcie... everything what @kannafoot said (altho' i confess to only having a rudimentary understanding of the technical aspect - but i do work with the sliders A LOT)... black and white really allows you to focus on form, line, point of view, light and shadow, texture... i use nik silver efex (a plug in - i think you would need something else like PSE or lightroom to go with it) to convert from colour to black and white... it is "da bomb" :D
Marcie... try not to get too intimidated by the technical stuff... i'm afraid that we tend to fall into jargon all too quickly around here... just keep playing around with it... and look at what others are doing to get some ideas, and to think thru what seems to work in a black and white image and what doesn't...
@northy Thanks. All I can really do is point, shoot, and upload. I have a very simple computer and don't have money for any thing to change the picture after I have taken it.
@irishblue If you really don't or can't edit and convert to B/W as @kannafoot explained, go into your camera "picture controls" menu and find the B/W one and ETSOOI. Raise the contrast right up, raise the sharpness right up, and try to shoot with as low an ISO as you can.
Unfortunately, simple AUTO, SOOC and standard greyscale conversion will not give you very compelling B/W ,ost of the time. As @northy suggested, try some of the free editors out there (Picassa I think is free), but if your computer is not really new, any image editor might overtax it.
Your camera may have a "retouch menu" that will allow you to do some of the editing adjustments, post shoot, that were suggested. Look in your camera manual for this and the "picture controls." I mentioned above.
Good luck. Things are not always simple, sorry to say.
A few of us just did a whole month of monochromatic photos for March. Type in the tag monomarch13 to see what others did, might give some ideas, and inspiration. Did for me.
WWW.ribbit.com is a great free online editor, with some great b&w effects to try.
Great advice found here! For starting out, you can upload photos to picmonkey.com or ipiccy.com for free (I think). This will at least allow you to convert color photos into black and white, and you'll be more in control than your camera.
@kannafoot Nicely explained. There is one point you said, shoot in colour, convert after. Sometimes when I'm shooting with the intention of the shot being BW... I shoot in monochrome...but I am shooting in RAW so when I import into Lightroom they're in colour anyway. I shoot in monochrome so I can just have a check to see if I'm getting my angles right as I usually shoot colour and most of my shots are in colour, BW is still a fairly new way to see things for me. I do enjoy it though and I find it's "different" eyes that I need :)
@irishblue Jump in, feet first :) It's the only way. Make a copy of your shot so you can go to town on a copy and know that you have your original out of camera shot to fall back to should you "destroy" via editing. Do you shoot in jpeg or RAW? I am assuming jpeg from your comments... so yeah, make a copy and then you can do whatever you like with peace of mind.
@irishblue On The Lent Season that has just passed I was joining #colorlesslent challenge here by shooting in B&W straight from my camera.
The reason why I wanted to join the challenge because I wanted to learn how to shoot in B&W mode before do what Ron has just explained.
I recommend Picasa for free editing. It's very good for quick editing and I do most of mine that way, only going over to GIMP (also free!) when I have time or the shot needs more careful editing. Easy to find at Google homepage, click on "more" and then "even more"
@irishblue@kannafoot@grizzlysghost@northy@ozziehoffy There is an accepted wisdom that b&w photography should have pure white or pure black, but this is simply not true. Pure black and white will emphasise contrast and drama, but not every photo needs to work in that way. High key and low key photos are examples of styles of photography that use black and white to effect. Different shades of grey, particularly in shadows will bring out detail. Some photographers however seek to capture light and shade bringing out silver tones rather than working towards dramatic contrasts which rely on pure black and white in the same photo. For example, this photo by @vase does not rely on the use of black to create a fine image:
This photo I took last year does not get to white:
I think it is worthwhile to experiment and not be constrained by rules. Find what works for you. It is also worth experimenting by shooting in black and white as this will help you learn to understand the difference between shooting in b+w and colour rather than just converting. Nik software is terrific, film is better.
@peterdegraaff For sure, but many (most?) do. Those "high contrast" B/W that pros always talk about. As in everything, I think it is best to "know the rules" first and then deviate as desired, required. If you don't know them, then you will spend so much time rediscovering them, and then perhaps not even understanding in the end.
Your two example shots are superb. Most sophisticated compositions, certainly not elementary, with the subtle tone contrasts. But "tone contrast" is still the key, even here.
@peterdegraaff thank you for the compliment, Peter. I tried increasing the contrast with that photo to get pure blacks, but when I did the image looked like zebra stripes, not sand. I have a healthy respect for that rule, but I agree that it doesn't always work to follow it!
@frankhymus I have been reading the book the Art of Photography by Bruce Barnbaum who is one of the great b+w photographers. He argues that pursuing pure black and white has destroyed many good photos, and like many of the so called rules of photography can be ignored. @vase
@peterdegraaff Peter, ignored if indeed you know when and how and why to ignore them. That was my point, and exactly Carla's ( @vase ) too, I think.
My favorite references for B/W are (1) John Beardsworth's 2007 book "Advanced Black and White Photography" which isn't 100% "advanced" covering many basics, but you need to know your way round a camera and an editor, and (2) the chapter in Scott Kelby's newest (2013) "Photoshop CS6 for Digital Photographers." Both are chock-a-block full of wonderful practical advice.
It does beginners a disserrivce if the first thing you tell them is to simply ignore "the rules" and worse, don't even bother finding out what they are in the first place. For any art form I would say, unless you are a one-in-ten-milion-certified-genius.
Would Barnbaum's observations be directed to the work of folks who are not starting out at the beginning, but who are now slavishly following the rule 100% of the time regardless of the design and composition requirements of the frame? Those who are now in a position to know better, and to whom the advice is now well placed? I admit I do not know the book.
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1. Always shoot in color and do the conversion yourself afterwards. If you let the camera do the conversion, you effectively throw away over 900,000 tones that you could otherwise use.
2. You want to show pure white and pure black in each photo. This gives the proper frame of reference to the viewer.
3. Not all photos work well in black and white! If shooting for that medium, you want to think in terms of contrast. Will your subject stand out against the background when both are shades of grey? Do I have sufficient extremes of black and white from which to work?
4. When exposing for black and white, try to shoot for the right side of the histogram without blowing out the whites. You can adjust the contrast afterwards, provided you have the maximum amount of data in the image from which to work.
5. Use a levels adjustment to manipulate the midtones and the end-points of your histogram. The levels adjustment does not change the shape of the histogram itself. A brightness/contrast adjustment also comes in handy, but be aware of what that adjustment does. Brightness will shift the entire histogram either right (light) or left (dark). Contrast will heighten or shorten the "Y-Axis" part of the histogram. Play around with the 3 different controls and see the effect.
I'm not sure what software you use to post-process your photos. If it's Photoshop Elements, then you can use a black and white gradient map in color blend mode as a good starting point for the conversion. There are also a few plug-ins (Topaz B&W FX is the one I use) that give you a lot of control.
Anyway, that's a starting point for you! Enjoy! I love B&W photography, but be warned: it's highly addictive!
Although this wasn't my post, thanks for such a detailed explanation. I always assumed doing b&w in the camera was better than processing.
@ozziehoffy you might be interested in that response.
Unfortunately, simple AUTO, SOOC and standard greyscale conversion will not give you very compelling B/W ,ost of the time. As @northy suggested, try some of the free editors out there (Picassa I think is free), but if your computer is not really new, any image editor might overtax it.
Your camera may have a "retouch menu" that will allow you to do some of the editing adjustments, post shoot, that were suggested. Look in your camera manual for this and the "picture controls." I mentioned above.
Good luck. Things are not always simple, sorry to say.
WWW.ribbit.com is a great free online editor, with some great b&w effects to try.
@irishblue Jump in, feet first :) It's the only way. Make a copy of your shot so you can go to town on a copy and know that you have your original out of camera shot to fall back to should you "destroy" via editing. Do you shoot in jpeg or RAW? I am assuming jpeg from your comments... so yeah, make a copy and then you can do whatever you like with peace of mind.
@irishblue On The Lent Season that has just passed I was joining #colorlesslent challenge here by shooting in B&W straight from my camera.
The reason why I wanted to join the challenge because I wanted to learn how to shoot in B&W mode before do what Ron has just explained.
Here an interview of Dan Ballard by NIK Software that somebody had ever shared here in the discussion group. You may want to check it out as well as the comments here :)
http://education.niksoftware.com/2013/02/21/fireside-chat-how-to-shoot-with-black-and-white-in-mind-with-dan-ballard/
This photo I took last year does not get to white:
I think it is worthwhile to experiment and not be constrained by rules. Find what works for you. It is also worth experimenting by shooting in black and white as this will help you learn to understand the difference between shooting in b+w and colour rather than just converting. Nik software is terrific, film is better.
Your two example shots are superb. Most sophisticated compositions, certainly not elementary, with the subtle tone contrasts. But "tone contrast" is still the key, even here.
@irishblue @kannafoot @grizzlysghost @northy @ozziehoffy @vase
My favorite references for B/W are (1) John Beardsworth's 2007 book "Advanced Black and White Photography" which isn't 100% "advanced" covering many basics, but you need to know your way round a camera and an editor, and (2) the chapter in Scott Kelby's newest (2013) "Photoshop CS6 for Digital Photographers." Both are chock-a-block full of wonderful practical advice.
It does beginners a disserrivce if the first thing you tell them is to simply ignore "the rules" and worse, don't even bother finding out what they are in the first place. For any art form I would say, unless you are a one-in-ten-milion-certified-genius.
Would Barnbaum's observations be directed to the work of folks who are not starting out at the beginning, but who are now slavishly following the rule 100% of the time regardless of the design and composition requirements of the frame? Those who are now in a position to know better, and to whom the advice is now well placed? I admit I do not know the book.